


Disrupted Dancing

by WinterDreams



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Universe, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, No Plot/Plotless, No Resolution, Pre-Relationship, Well he tries, feelings without plot, hunk is the true hero here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 19:10:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11743353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterDreams/pseuds/WinterDreams
Summary: "Oh c'mon, what's a boy to doWhen all the pretty girls can't measure to you?"--"All the Pretty Girls" by Fun.





	Disrupted Dancing

**Author's Note:**

> Request for a friend who wanted a short fic about mutually pining Lance and Keith based around the song, and no resolution for the feelings.

“Seriously, Lance, I swear that creepy group in the corner has been staring at us since we walked in.”

“Hunk, if they’re staring at us, it’s because we’re the finest looking guys in this place.” Lance leaned back and away from the sticky bar they were currently crowded around and craned his head to find the aliens that had Hunk freaked out. “Also, I don’t see anyone staring.”

“Why did we come here again?” Hunk asked as Lance stopped looking around, and returned to fiddling with straws as they waited for someone to come back with their drinks.

“Uh, because Coran _and_ Allura said that this is the number one hot spot for meeting aliens and having a fun time, _and_ everyone agreed we deserve a break from all the world saving.”

“Yeah but neither Coran nor Allura came. Or Pidge! Pidge got to stay on the castle.”

“So?”

The server finally returned, sliding two brightly coloured drinks to them. They looked like orange smoothies with swirls of blue Freezie, and Lance instantly loved them for the cute umbrellas sticking out of both of them. The pair grabbed them and then turned to look out at the bustling room crammed from corner to corner with different types of aliens.

_Liquid Trough,_ was what their tech translated the name of the place to be, and Lance could only assume the cultural idiom application wasn’t functioning at full capacity.

The place was a club because there was a dance floor spread across the first floor with tacky disco balls hanging from the ceiling. The place was a bar because there was a sticky one with glowing drinks behind it on the second floor where the paladins had first headed to. But it could have also been this galaxy’s version of a family friendly pub because they had been waved inside with a shrug when Shiro mentioned the paladins were underage and the bartenders were serving them non-alcoholic drinks _and_ Lance was fairly certain he’d seen at least two children dash up the stairs leading to a third floor.

Though the lack of alcohol, Earth or alien, could have also been from Shiro telling the bartenders the two of them were underage since he insisted on following Earth rules because _I said so, Lance._

“Hmmm, yeah no this is gonna bother me.”

“What?” Lance glanced at Hunk where he frowned down at his drinks. “The flavour of the drinks?”

The drinks were so fruity that Lance kept sifting through it to try and find actual pieces of fruit inside.

“Huh? Oh no no, that’s easy,” Hunk said, and took another sip. “Mangos, orange, and those purple fruits Coran gave us last week. You know the ones with the spikes that you had to pry open with a knife like some kind of clam, but the inside was so _sweet_ and soft?”

“I remember Pidge almost hitting herself in the glasses trying to get it open?”

“Um, that was you, and you really did hit yourself in the face.”

“I did not!”

“And anyways, not the drinks,” Hunk said as he finished his with a sad look down at his cup. Lance sighed, but handed his to Hunk and then ordered two more for them. “The fact that Pidge got to stay on the ship and work on all her projects.”

“Oh yeah, you two were working on some super special nerd thing, right?” The server shoved more drinks toward them and Lance tried thanking him (?) without looking too closely at the tentacles sprouting from the alien’s face.

“Yeah it’s this really cool thing where–”

“Hunk, we’re off ship and you know I don’t understand the nerd talk you and Pidge do.”

“It’s not nerd talk, it’s science and math.”

“That’s like the definition of nerd talk.”

Hunk opened his mouth to argue but then closed it with a considering look while Lance studied the aliens. The range of colours, spikes, tails, feathers, and heights were almost more overwhelming than the pulsing music playing overhead. No Earth songs, of course, but there were a few songs that had Lance tapping his foot along and shooting glances at the dance floor.

“Why _didn’t_ you drag Pidge out here like you dragged me?” Hunk asked instead, and Lance tugged him away from the bar so they could lean against the iron railing overlooking the dance floor.

“She was holding her bayard when I tried asking her, and I need you to be my wingman.”

“I thought Keith was your wingman.”

“No way! Keith is here because–” Lance stopped and looked around with a frown. Lance had been hyper aware of the other paladin’s presence for weeks now even when he was pointedly trying to ignore him and the sudden, unexplained absence made a million tiny fireworks of anxiety explode in his chest. “Hunk, where’s Keith?”

“This place sucks.”

Hunk and Lance would later insist to Pidge that, no matter what Keith said, neither of them shrieked when Keith reappeared at Lance’s side without any warning and an even grumpier than normal look on his face.

“Where were you?” Hunk asked as Lance instantly scooted closer while studying their teammate’s flustered face.

“Checking the exits.”

“Checking the–Keith, it’s a _club_ ,” Lance told him, and Keith only scowled. “We’re here to have fun.”

“It’s noisy and it’s crowded,” Keith retorted. “Which means anyone could sneak up on us here.”

“Also, is it really a club?” Hunk asked. “Or is a weirdly open restaurant?”

“Hunk, I just had an internal monologue about this and decided it was a club, don’t make this repetitive.”

“Okay yeah, I get it, but I swear I saw three families just having dinner here and that’s weird right? You don’t go to clubs back home for wholesome family dinners, right? Right?”

“Guys, the point is we’re here to have _fun_ ,” Lance said, and threw his arm around Keith’s shoulders despite the health risks associated with close contact to the other paladin. Keith just looked at him, and Lance ignored the uneven beating of his own heart. “Talk, flirt, dance. Not make battle strategies or fight or whatever. Besides, Shiro’s probably somewhere watching the exits for us.”

“I don’t dance,” Keith replied, and Lance grinned.

“Which is _exactly_ why you needed to come here.”

The background music never faded from Lance’s awareness, and he let go of Keith just so he could tug on his arm when the song switched to one with an even clearer, consistent beat. Keith stared at Lance as he tugged, but the scowl was fading beneath his patented Lance-what-are-you-doing expression.

“Come on, Keith, it’s easy.”

“No.”

“All you have to do is move with the beat,” Lance insisted, and he released Keith just so he could show his two friends.

Nothing too intense, though he could definitely feel some aliens staring at them now, which made him want to whirl and grin at them. Instead he kept his attention on the smiling Hunk and quiet Keith as he let the music spread through him and move his body. “Just start with your hips.”

Under the pulsating lights, Keith’s whole face was flushed and his eyes glittering with the loud life all around them. He kept shifting and his fingers dug into the toned muscles of his crossed arms, but he never looked away from Lance even when strands of his mullet fell into his face. It was the most unfair thing in the universe that not only did Keith’s piloting defy all known physics, but the attractiveness of his mullet did too. By Earthen, Altean, and every other alien race’s standards, the long, unchecked hair coupled with Keith’s patented scowls should never have even piqued Lance’s interest.

Yet there he was, in the middle of the club trying to convince Keith to dance not just because the guy needed a chance to smile before he forgot how, but because Lance simply wanted to dance with him.

Lance stopped so he could bounce back to the other two for more wheedling, and a chorus of giggles erupted behind them. Four aliens hovered nearby with bright smiles and colourful bodies. One of them had glittering scales and wings pressed to their back that made Lance think of a dragon. Two were stout and stocky with pink tails and manes of feathers flowing down from their domed heads. The last glowed with a purple light and looked like her body was made of a stone armour that had melted and sunken in certain places.

Keith’s hand twitched for the belt where he kept his blade, but Lance could only give them all a warm smile. Hunk did too even as he shifted a little closer to his friends.

“You are the paladins,” the stone one said. “From the planet Earth?”

“That’s right,” Lance said, and gave them a sweeping bow that Keith always rolled his eyes at. “And you beautiful ladies are?”

“Talsa,” the dragon looking one said.

“Shareen and Shaleen,” the two stocky ones said,

“And Marida,” the purple one said.

“I’m Hunk,” Hunk offered, “That’s Keith and this is Lance.”

“Are you ladies from another galaxy?” Lance asked on instinct before anyone could stop him, “Because your bodies are out of this world.”

Hunk groaned but the aliens actually smiled and laughed which only made Keith move closer to Lance with a sour expression.

“You dance very well, Lance,” Marida said. “Do the people of Earth engage in much dancing?”

“We have never met Earthlings before,” Shareen and Shaleen added in unison. “Is it true you eat your pets?”

“Eat our what?” Lance replied with a concerned look.

“Someone mentioned you have these things called corn-dogs. Only they explained that dogs are animals you keep as pets. And corn is a gross plant you eat.”

“And beaver tails,” Talsa added.

“Oh, um no corn dogs aren’t actually dogs,” Lance explained. “They’re other meat covered in bread and deep-fried. Meat we don’t keep as pets. I don’t know about beaver tails?”

“It’s a Canadian thing,” Hunk assured him. “But that’s also not made out of that animal, it’s actually a pastry.”

“Weird,” Lance said, but the aliens simply crowded closer with more questions about their planet.

It was not exactly flirting but that almost made the conversation easier as they exchanged stories about their home planets. Despite being put on edge earlier, Hunk was all warm smiles and interested questions, and Lance was ridiculous comments but genuine affection for the planet he missed and the new aliens they talked with. And it was easier to talk about Earth and then hear all the ways the other galaxies differed when Lance’s friends were there, to keep the mood lighter and push away the homesickness with their smiles. The aliens pressed closer to them with each new word from their mouths, nothing fake about their laughter or the questions they asked or the light touches to Lance’s arms.

Only Keith stayed unaffected, and Lance wanted to tease him again, wanted to make him smile, but every time he managed to draw Keith into the conversation, he would close his mouth again as soon as one of the aliens spoke to Lance. After a few short and negative responses, the aliens took the hint and left him alone, though Talsa was undeterred.

“We should dance,” Marida suggested while Hunk and Lance were in the middle of telling stories about strange ocean life and the annoyances of jellyfish. The second floor was growing even more packed with alien bodies and there were four servers with tentacles running behind the crowded bar.

The other aliens smiled and started to head toward the neon green stairs leading to the dance floor. Keith didn’t move and Lance tugged at his sleeve once more.

“Come on, Keith,” Lance said as the others paused at the stairs. “They seem really friendly.”

“I told you, I don’t dance,” Keith said, and Lance rolled his eyes.

“If you’re worried cuz you haven’t done it before, it’s a club. No one’s gonna care if you’re not super amazing at this like you are at everything else.”

“I’m not–” Keith shifted and brought their bodies shoulder to shoulder, arm to arm. Lance would only need to move an inch and they would be holding hands. “I don’t want to dance with strangers, alright?”

Keith met Lance’s gaze, and there was an uncertainty there that Lance had never seen before. Not the one that crowded the corners of his eyes and tightened his shoulders in the days following Shiro’s absence when Keith took charge. Not the one that pulled fingers to his blade whenever they encountered a new planet and possible enemy. Not the one that you had to look for in the creases of his face when one of them got injured and he was trying to stay calm.

This one was a barely disguised plea and an aching vulnerability that made Lance want to wrap his arms around Keith so no one else could see how painfully open Keith was. He might have, if Keith had shifted even an inch closer or was even a fraction less taciturn about what he really wanted from Lance in that moment.

“I can keep Keith company.”

Both of them jerked back at Talsa’s voice, and when Lance turned he could see Hunk waving from the stairs with the others. Hunk shot Lance a questioning look but Lance could only shrug even as his heart pounded somewhere in his dry throat.

“No, that’s–it’s not necessary,” Keith told her, open expression shutting right back down.

“This is a fun place for aliens of all planets to share in each other’s company,” Talsa replied with a smile. “You should have company, even if you do not wish to dance. I know the best–how do you say–juices?–at this place.”

“That’s–”

“Just chill, Keith,” Lance told him. “Get a drink or come dance with all of us.”

Keith’s gaze flickered to him and then to the aliens who were calling for them. He met Lance’s gaze again, and Lance pasted on his reassuring smile despite needing to shove his hands in his pockets to keep from grabbing Keith again and not letting go.

“I’ll just stay up here,” Keith finally said even when he couldn’t seem to look away from Lance, and Lance let him go with the others all calling his name.

The dance floor was a writhing mess of bodies and the longer they danced, the more friends the three aliens seemed to make. Despite the pounding music and smell of sweat not leaving much room for conversation, the group of aliens the paladins attracted still shouted their names to them and managed to shove jokes and laughter and curious questions in between all the dancing.

Lance broke away from the group several times to dash back upstairs to convince Keith to come dance with them. Talsa stayed with him and despite his earlier complaints, Keith didn’t immediately shove her or her new friends away. He still wouldn’t come down to dance, his answers ranging from the same insistence that he didn’t dance, to claiming someone needed to keep an eye on all of them in case something happened.

And Lance could never argue for very long before someone interrupted and despite his growing frustration, Lance could only ever respond with a smile and let himself be pulled away. He returned again and again, stuck in the same gravitational pull that had him claiming he was Keith’s rival all the way back at the Garrison.

Except it was ten times worse without the safety buffer of rivalry, and with all the shared adventures filling every empty space inside Lance with a bubbling affection. Affection that boiled over into his veins and dripped down his bones when he finally got the smallest of smiles from Keith before Marida came up with Hunk to lead Lance back down to the dance floor.

They danced and talked until their feet ached and they needed to grab drinks more than once. Hunk was the first to beg a break, leaning in to tell Lance he was going up while the aliens continued to insist on their company.

“And hey, looks like Keith’s finally having some fun,” Hunk said, and Lance’s head whipped to the balcony he’d been checking on every ten minutes.

There were three more aliens now standing with Talsa and Keith while all of them held more neon drinks. The one beside Keith had the same scales as Talsa but her wings were spread behind her like a butterfly, all blue swirls and brown edges to match the glittering brown and blue scales covering her body. Keith’s fingers still skirted his belt as if to assure himself the knife was there, but as the other two paladins watched, he smiled at something the butterfly alien said.

The smile was just the slightest upturn of the corner of Keith’s lips, but Lance’s own smile froze on his face and all of the drinks they’d downed churned in his stomach.

“That _is_ what you wanted, right?” Hunk said, when Lance didn’t immediately respond. The dimming of Hunk’s cheer into worry jolted Lance, and he bumped Hunk’s shoulder with a grin.

“Of course,” Lance said. “Fun times and dancing for everyone.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, still staring at Lance with furrowed brows. He glanced once at Keith before he clapped Lance’s shoulder. “Okay, buddy, see you in a bit.”

Lance watched Hunk shove his way through the crowds to the stairs and then Shaleen and Shareen called for Lance’s attention again, tails wrapped around his leg and waist. He turned back to them with finger guns ready and the rainbow of feathers caught his eye once more.

_Pretty_ , he thought, and determinedly started dancing again as his brain added, _but not as pretty as Keith._

He couldn’t help but continuing to glance to the group on the second floor though, so he saw when Hunk joined their group. He saw as the conversation continued with smiles and warm comments from Hunk.

And he saw when Hunk leaned down to whisper something in Keith’s ear that had him frowning again. Keith shook his head and that only made Hunk frown and say something else that had Keith glaring down at the ground.

They had one more hushed exchange as Lance tried craning his head to get a better look at both of them.

Then Keith was shoving his drink at Hunk and tearing away from the group with his gaze set on the exit. Lance glanced to Hunk to find the other paladin offering him an apologetic look, though he couldn’t have known that Lance’s insides were a burning, twisted mess as if the Red lion had shot his fiery laser right into him.

From down below, Lance couldn’t see if Keith hesitated or if he simply strode right out with his shoulders hunched and unhappy expression on his face once more. He watched until his friend disappeared into the swarm of bodies and Hunk retrieved another drink and the aliens called for Lance to dance once more with their bright laughter.

And so he stayed and danced along to the music and laughter, and pretended that he wouldn’t have left them all for quieter company and quieter smiles if only Keith had asked.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
